


Breaking New Ground

by radondoran



Category: Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
Genre: Canon Related, M/M, UST
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-13
Updated: 2012-11-13
Packaged: 2017-11-18 14:13:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/561924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radondoran/pseuds/radondoran
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ralph has an idea for a project.  Felix learns a couple of new things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breaking New Ground

The last game of _Fix-It Felix Jr._ was over, and the arcade went dark outside. Fix-It Felix Jr. himself returned the medal to Gene and the pie to Mary, and hopped down the outside of the building to where his daytime adversary, Wreck-It Ralph, lay in the mud. Felix offered him a hand up. They both knew that Felix was far too small to get any leverage on the nine-foot Ralph, let alone lift him, but Ralph took the hand anyway. It had quickly become their new nightly ritual: a sign of friendship off the clock. 

Ralph stood and brushed the 8-bit mud off his clothes. "Good game today."

"I couldn't have done it without you," Felix answered, honestly.

"Yeah, yeah--hey, you busy tonight?" Ralph was in a hurry to get to something.

"No, not really. Why?"

"I want your help with something. Come on, I'll show you." He was off towards the dump, walking with great strides so that Felix had to half-run to keep up. Felix had offered Ralph a spot in the apartment building--the penthouse if he wanted it--but Ralph wouldn't hear of it. Now as they arrived at the dump, Felix saw what he had decided on instead.

"Ta-da!" It was a ramshackle little shack, not much more than a stack of old building parts. But it stood up on its own, and it had a door and a window. "I built it myself."

"Ralph, that's wonderful!" The shack was not, by objective standards, wonderful, but it sure beat heck out of a stump and a pile of bricks. "So, what is it you need my help for? Something in there need fixing?"

"No, no," said Ralph. "Actually, my shack is fine. It's just an example. See, I have this idea. We've got all these building parts just lying around, and there's all those homeless characters out in Game Central Station. I thought we could build some more apartment buildings--like Niceland over there--and give 'em a place to live."

Felix nodded. "Say, that's a good idea." Then he paused. "But where do I come in?"

"You're going to help me build them, of course! I've got the brute strength, I can lay the foundations and stuff, but I need your tools, your finesse. What do you say?"

Felix looked up at him doubtfully. "Gee, Ralph, you know I've never actually _built_ anything before. I'm just the fix-it guy. These apartments have always been here. I just... fix things."

"Hey, come on." Ralph pointed at himself. "I'm the wreck-it guy, remember? If I can help build a go-kart, and I can build this shack, I bet you can build something amazing."

"I'll try, but... well, I'm just not sure."

Ralph thought for a moment. "I've got an idea. Wait right here." He rushed to the nearest brick pile, came back with an armload of bricks, and laid out a neat row--well, as neat as he could manage with his gigantic fingers. He added another row on top, and another row on top of that, until he had a very crude approximation of a very small segment of brick wall. He waved an arm to indicate the crude stack. "Fix it, Felix!"

Felix blinked. Why, this just might work. "I can fix it," he said, and experimentally knocked the stack of bricks with his hammer. In an instant they became a real segment of wall. The alignment shifted into place, mortar sprung up between the bricks, and the whole thing was solid as a rock.

Felix gaped at his golden hammer with new appreciation. "My land," he muttered.

He looked up to find Ralph grinning down at him. "I told you so."

"That you did." Felix brandished his hammer in readiness. "Well, looks like we've got some work to do!"

Ralph picked up another armful of bricks and rushed ahead. "Come on, I've already got the plans worked out! The first building goes over here..."

They set to work, both of them helping to stack the approximations of the building walls and Felix putting on the finishing touch. With his limited knowledge of engineering, Felix was able to make some minor corrections to Ralph's plans, but for the most part he was surprised at how much thought had already gone into them. He had never realized before all this that Ralph had it in him to create as well as destroy. 

There was a lot he hadn't noticed before. He'd never realized what a kind heart Ralph had. And it had never occurred to him, as it did now, that Ralph looked... well, not _handsome_ exactly, arcade game characters simply weren't handsome in 1982, Felix knew that all too well--but all the same, there was something about Ralph's smile. Maybe that was it; Ralph hadn't smiled much, before.

Now, most of the way through the first story of the first building, Felix stopped stacking for a moment and watched Ralph's not-exactly-handsome smile as he carefully patted the wall into place and stepped back to admire his work. He looked over at Felix, and the smile faltered.

"Hey, uh, Felix? I said, I think this part's ready for you."

"Oh. Oh!" Felix hurried over, and the brick wall sprang to life under his hammer.

Ralph looked down at Felix curiously. "You're acting kind of funny," he said. "You're not coming down with a virus, are you?"

Before Felix could protest, two huge fingers plucked his hat off by the brim. Ralph's other colossal hand came to rest behind Felix's shoulders, the thumb reaching up to touch his forehead. The gesture could have been threatening, but instead it was comforting. It was amazing how _gentle_ Ralph could be when he wanted to, and he wanted to more and more often these days. Felix let his eyes close and relaxed into the touch.

The hand withdrew, and Felix opened his eyes to find Ralph crouching just above his eye level, still looking at him curiously. "Well, you don't feel warm," he said, and handed back Felix's hat. "But you look a little flushed."

"Oh, that's just the--" And Felix stopped. Jiminy-jaminy, what was he _saying_? "The work, that's all." He crammed his hat back on, pulling the brim down hard to hide the deepening honey-glow in his cheeks.

Ralph didn't seem to notice. He stood up straight and stretched. "Yeah, I guess it's probably about time to call it a night. I'll get some more people to help tomorrow--I just wanted to see if you were in."

"Yeah," said Felix. "I'm in. It's a good idea. Say, there's still a few hours left before the arcade opens. You want to head over to Tapper's?"

"Actually," said Ralph, a little hesitantly, "do you want to come to my shack? I, uh, haven't had any visitors yet. I made a pie," he added. "Well, okay, I smuggled it in from _Sugar Rush_. It used to be a wheel."

Felix tried, unsuccessfully, to look stern at that. "Tsk, tsk. Still up to your old tricks. Okay, contraband pie sounds delightful."

Ralph clapped him around the shoulders again. "You are gonna love my shack," he said, leading him towards it. "I made a table, and chairs--yeah, two chairs, even! Of course, some of it might need a little work..."

"I can fix it," said Felix absently. He turned to look up at Ralph's smile again, feeling the touch of Ralph's hand shift on his shoulder as he did so.

Ralph caught his eyes. "What?" he asked playfully.

Felix fought the urge to tug at the brim of his hat again. "I'm glad you want me to work with you on this," he said, without missing a beat.

"I couldn't do it without you. Now come on--let's go get that contraband pie."


End file.
